1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to electronics and, more particularly to an integrated telecommunications system incorporating wireline technology and cell phone technology.
2. Related Art
Today's consumers are faced with a wide variety of electronic communications products and services, including home wireline telephone service, cell phone service, Internet telephone service, wireless networking services, and the like. Although there are a large number of available services, consumers may not be able to efficiently manage these various services to meet their communication needs. In the telecommunications arena, consumers may patch together a combination of wireline, cell phone, and Internet telephone communication services, with the result being redundant in some aspects and at the same time insufficient in other aspects.
With the overwhelming number of unsatisfactory options, consumers are frustrated. Rather than paying for redundant charges and services, a growing number of consumers are discontinuing conventional home wireline telephone service and opting for cellular telephone service alone. Cellular telephone service provides a number of attractive features not commonly found with home telephone systems: convenience, mobility, a single contact number, a single voicemail system, a single address book, and a single monthly bill.
However, this option may not be practical for many consumers. The quality of cell phone communications is generally significantly lower than the quality of wireline systems. Additionally, for households having multiple phone users, there is no integration among the different users. Finally, common cell phone fee structures may make a cell-only household more expensive than a combined wireline and cell phone household.
One approach to reducing the inefficiency and redundancy of today's telecommunication solutions is to find a way to adapt a cell phone to the wireline telephone system. However, there is a significant obstacle to such an approach. The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is monitored to determine whether any device is drawing current from or sourcing current to the network. If current draw or sourcing is detected, the telephone company may cut off service to the associated location.
Some existing solutions use inactive but pre-existing telephone wiring to provide a cell phone adapter, taking advantage of the fact that many homes have two sets of telephone wires but subscribe to a single line from their telephone service provider. However, these solutions are not optimal. First, some homes (such as older homes and apartments) have a single set of wires. Second, it is increasingly common for telephone company customers to subscribe to two lines; for example, in order to use one line as a voice line and the second as a dedicated fax line.
As a result, the existing cell and wireline telephone services are not optimal for many consumers.